Dissolve Today: A Brief Review Of The New Album From Acquaintances (Titus Andronicus, The Ponys, Don Caballero)

The newest supergroup on the scene is Acquaintances. The players here are Jered Gummere from The Ponys on guitar and vocals, Justin Sinkovich from The Poison Arrows on guitar and vocals, Patrick Morris from Don Caballero on bass, and Chris Wilson from Hammered Hulls, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, and Titus Andronicus on drums. The band's newest record is called 8 1/2 Lives and it drops on File 13 Records on Friday. It is one of the real highlights of this week's releases, and the sort of long-player that shows just how much is still to be done with post-punk forms.

Opener "And It All Went Black" is jittery in the style of late-period Fugazi, while "Flooded Candle Flickering Flame" is even better, echoes of Nineties heroes of indie-rock heard here. Acquaintances slow things down a bit on the title cut and "A Night in a Town", numbers that recall stuff like the material from Girls Against Boys, for lack of a better comparison-point. Similarly, the wonderfully-titled "I'm An Artisan Goddamnit" and the slow-burning "Mutual Denial" reveal the influence of non-American acts, like Joy Division and Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Acquaintances are, of course, never entirely beholden to any of those points of inspiration, with the overall sound here being a fairly-fresh take on post-rock, albeit one updated for the 21st century. At their very best here, like throughout the hefty crunch of "The Last Page", Acquaintances hit at a nice blend of power and control, with the result being music that should please fans of acts as disparate as The Jesus Lizard, Q And Not U, and Titus Andronicus ('natch).

8 1/2 Lives is out on Friday via File 13 Records.

More details on Acquaintances via the band's official website, or the band's official Facebook page.

[Photo: Uncredited promotional picture]